Lockerbie Bomber released

[rotorgun]

Megrahi was convicted of murder in January 2001 at a trial held under Scottish law in the Netherlands.

I always thought that was an odd thing about the trial. I guess it was because of anger in Scotland at the time, considering that some of the people killed where Scottish. The number of witness statements for the case was amazing-over 15,000. It certainly seems to me that Scotland went to great lengths to insure he got a fair trial, or at least that it had the appearance of fairness.

Those times were very trying. I remember the Lockerbie crash, coming on the heels of the Gander Crash three years earlier. There was a great deal of hostility in the United States then toward the Libyan government. I am sure that the Libyans had good reason to be hostile toward the United Sates as well. That the Libyans felt they owed the US for attacks made against then in 1986, had something to do with all this.

I was in Egypt 3 years earlier with the US Army during one of the Operation Bright Star exercises. The practice air raids by our navy were a dress rehearsal for the type of raid made against Libya. The Army's role was to act sort of as a desert base camp, along with portions of the Egyptian Army and Air Force. The equipment and aircraft set up was very much like the Libyan capabilities. The US Navy and Air Force conducted three days of mock attacks against our positions. The Egyptian Air Force, with their outdated F-4 Phantoms acted as interceptors to the raid, engaging in many low level mock dogfights with the A-6 and A-7 Attack planes. Circling high overhead, F-14s kept a constant vigil, occasionally mixing in with the F-4s. It was an interesting spectacle to watch from the ground,

I only brought that up because in 1986, President Reagan ordered just such an attack against Mummar Kadaffi's Libya. He narrowly missed being killed by the attack, although several of his family were killed. It wasn't hard for many Americans to believe that the Lockerbie crash was a retaliation. Even the Libyan government admitted responsibility for the bombing and turned over the alleged perpetrators, when asked to. Scapegoats they may have been, but Libya certainly didn't want any more attacks against it after the last one. If he was really innocent, then may he live in peace and be able to forgive us. If he is not, may he still find peace with his family until his death. The problem is, who can give peace to his victims if he is guilty-only God I guess.